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Believe it or not, when Dale High School closed in the late '50s parts of what is now the Conemaugh Valley School District voted to attend Franklin High School instead of Richland High School.

Richland was mostly farmland then.

Richland had at least 96 seniors in 1958 when it was mostly farmland. In 2006 Richland had 118 seniors. Conemaugh Valley had just 59 seniors in 2000.

Being nowhere near as developed business-wise as it is now has nothing to do with how many seniors there were. How much revenue did Richland Township bring in then from commercial/industrial entities as opposed to now? How much business was there? College campuses, retail, malls, industrial parks, business parks, restaurants? How wealthy were the township and the residents? Were they able to build hardwood and marble monuments as high schools back then?

Thanks to all for engaging in a good debate on this issue. It took a while to get it going but there have been some excellent points made by many of you. Now for the rumor mill. A Very, very reliable source is claiming:

Ferndale and CV gone by end of next school year either thru voluntary consolidation or, if not, merger will be forced. Funding gravy train has been derailed.

Windber, Blacklick, Shanksville/Shade, Portage -- days are numbered. CT, NS, being looked at closely. We will end up with 4 school districts in Cambria county or ONE school district and 4 high schools in Cambria County. County wide district being considered in Somerset county as well. Mergers across county lines are being examined (Windber/Richland) -- there is no legal prohibition in PA.

Chandra Vora moving to Westmont as she can now afford a home there.

It will really be great once these consolidations are completed -- hopefully the old "get the most from doing the least" mentality will be extinguished with some COMPETITION.

I'm guessing that this consolidation effect will be occurring throughout the state, not just locally. Which will eventually result in quite a few changes in PIAA classifications.

IF 1 SD for all Cambria (or Somerset, others) were to occur then would parents/students have open enrollment option to choose which school they attend? I believe that is currently the case with the Philly Public, Pittsburgh City and Bedford/Hyndman schools.

Show me the savings that many think will come with school district consolidation.

Frankly, I don't see it.

knowitall wrote:Show me the savings that many think will come with school district consolidation.

Frankly, I don't see it.

I know I'll get pooped on for bringing a humanistic side to this, but has anyone thought that consolidation would be more intellectually stimulating for the student? Not that this really matters though :roll:

You could elaborate further on the student stimulation aspect.

With drastic budget cuts looming I don't know that any of us can say what the school of the near future will look like. I see cuts coming in sports programs, administration, foreign language instruction, art instruction, music instruction, home economics, industrial arts, etc.

In the Johnstown area at this time I couldn't see closing any buildings and a new building project would be a necessity even if the five schools merged into one. You would have one superintendent for the merged school but you would probably have to have several assistants, each building would still need its own administrative staff.

i think one advantage in consoldation is competition for school board members.